It's that time of the year again...

Today was Ben's annual ARD at school. Over all it went pretty well. I think that we came up with some pretty good ideas.
The psychologist is going to work with his teacher to make him a visual schedule with digital pictures and Velcro so that things can be moved if need be, and she is starting a social skills group. (I have only begged for this for 4 years now, so it is a record in speedy response...)
I was pleasantly surprised by the idea that we try to wear under armor to sleep in opposed to a weighted blanket. This will be about $250 dollars cheaper than a new weighted blanket, and he can wear it to school under his uniform... I was even more pleasantly surprised when I borrowed a shirt from his more athletic brother, and he LOVED it when he put it on.
I had to make a choice between crying and laughing when we addressed the OT's goals for the upcoming year. I chose to laugh. They consisted of... writing using a proper tripod grip on the pencil, learning to write the letters a-z correctly, and proper word orientation on the lines with proper use of the margins. Hmmm... thousands of dollars and years later,we are still working on the same goals. Come on folks, it isn't going to happen. I did get a tiny little blurb actually written into his IEP this year about using the typing to learn program. I guess that is actually a step in the right direction. I am sorry, but it just seems like when he can't write after 6 years of therapy, perhaps it is becoming more discouraging to him, and could be causing him to have lower self esteem. Let's try to change gears and work on something else that he might be able to do well.
There was another major melt down this evening. He tried to bite me, and ran out the door screaming that he was going to run away. He came back really quickly when I went out the door carrying the phone and told him he had to come inside, or I had to call the police. I thought that getting through puberty was hard with an ordinary child, it is going to be a life changing experience with Ben...
Overall, I guess the summary of the day is this. I have made it through another one. All of my children are home and in bed asleep. They all have their fingers and toes still. The favorite khaki pants are now in the dryer. Everyone ate dinner and did their homework. So I guess that I must have done my job pretty well today. We'll start again tomorrow and hope for a tantrum free day.